Set early in Season 3 between 'It Isn't The Fall That Kills You' and 'Little Boy Lost'. I hope you enjoy it, all comments welcome.

ATMOSPHERE

CHAPTER 1.

"Hi Paige, is Ralph with you? I've got this awesome new Super Fun Guy model kit to show him."

Paige Dineen had just arrived at the garage and Sylvester Dodd waited with excitement for her to answer him, but to his dismay she said nothing.

"Everything OK, kid ?" asked Cabe Gallo, looking up from his newspaper with concern at Paige's distant demeanour.

Paige took three steps further into the garage without acknowledging any of the team and remained silent as she put her bag down on the couch. She turned back to look at the door as if she expected to see someone else behind her, but there was no one.

Happy Quinn glanced at Sylvester and shrugged before returning her attention to the glue she was applying to her latest project.

"Paige?" Toby Curtis walked from the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand and immediately recognised that something was wrong.

Finally Paige lifted her head and looked around with an almost startled look on her face. "Sorry, guys," she said quietly. "Did someone say something?"

Toby walked towards her. "OK, where did you leave your brain this morning?" he asked.

"Um, I, er..." she stammered. "I'll, er, I'll be right back." And with that she ran outside.

"Was that Paige?" Walter O'Brien half ran down the stairs just as the door closed behind her.

"That's debatable," noted Toby. He was being sarcastic, but he was genuinely concerned about his friend's behaviour.

"Maybe she doesn't want Ralph to help me with the model kit?" suggested Sylvester, sadly.

"I don't think she's bothered about that," replied Cabe.

"I'll go after her," said Toby, placing his glass of water on the corner of his desk and heading towards the door.

"Is something wrong with Paige?" asked Walter, suddenly concerned. "Maybe I should go?"

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to any of you geniuses?" suggested Cabe, folding his newspaper and hanging it over the arm of the chair. "I'll go."

"Go where?" Paige suddenly appeared at the door again just as Cabe got to his feet.

Walter ran over to her. "Is everything OK?" he asked. Even he could see she was very distracted this morning.

"Is it Ralph?" asked Sylvester walking over to join the group.

Paige took a deep breath before answering. "Sorry, guys, it's nothing… it's probably nothing," she said. Then she looked at Toby. "Can I talk to you for a second, please?"

"Sure," replied Toby.

Walter opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't find the words. He wished Paige felt able to talk to him more about personal problems, but it was always Toby or Cabe that she turned to. He understood that his low EQ made him probably the least qualified out of the whole team, although he'd been starting to think that she finally understood him enough to be able to lean on him as a friend. However, since he had returned from being accidentally sent into space in Richard Elia's experimental rocket, Walter had noticed that Paige had been acting differently around him. He still had huge gaps in his memory after being deprived of oxygen in space and he could only assume that he'd said something to upset her. It was the only explanation he could think of for Paige's change of behaviour towards him and he longed to get those memories back so he could apologise.

"Outside, Toby," added Paige, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Walter. Toby exchanged a worried glance with Cabe before following Paige out of the door.

Outside Toby waited for Paige to explain what was going on, but after a few seconds of silence he decided he had to prompt her, or they could be out there all day.

"What is it?" he asked. "You're really worried about something…" he trailed off and watched her for a second. "Oh, maternal markers!" he exclaimed. "You're worried about Ralph. Where is he? Is he OK?" he added with concern.

Paige shrugged silently and nodded towards her car which was parked outside the garage. It was then that Toby noticed Ralph sitting in the front passenger seat. He was staring straight ahead, barely blinking.

"I just had to pick him up from school early," she explained. "He told his teacher he had a headache, but I know there's something else. He won't talk to me though, he said he'll only talk to you."

"To me?" said Toby in surprise and Paige nodded. "OK. Go back inside," he said, warmly. "Don't worry, I'll figure this out."

"Thanks," replied Paige. "I hate it when he shuts me out like this."

"He's eleven years old," Toby reminded her. "Sometimes kids that age just don't want to talk to their Moms."

Paige walked back into the garage. She trusted Toby and knew that he would help Ralph with whatever was troubling him, but it made her feel sad to think her son felt he couldn't confide in her instead.

Toby opened the car door and got in. "Hey, Ralph," he said. "You know your mom's freaking out right now."

"I know," replied Ralph.

"Why don't you start by telling me where it hurts?" suggested Toby.

Ralph turned to face him. "How did you know?" he asked, but he didn't really need an answer. Slowly he lifted the side of his t-shirt to reveal a large bruise just under his ribs which was slowly turning a deep shade of purple.

"Jeez, pal," said Toby with a frown and he gently began to palpate the injury. "Sorry," he said as Ralph winced. "So how did this happen?"

"I...I got into a...a fight," replied Ralph, hesitantly. "The other kid pushed me and I fell."

"Took a pretty hard whack," noted Toby.

"Sure hurts," said Ralph. "But I think it's OK."

"Why don't we go inside so I can get a proper look at you?" suggested Toby.

"Promise you won't tell my Mom?" pleaded Ralph.

"Scout's honour" replied Toby seriously.

"You were never a Boy Scout," said Ralph, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Was too… for almost an hour," replied Toby indignantly. Then at Ralph's puzzled look he added, "Long story, I'll tell you when you're older. Anyway, I promise I won't say a word to your Mom about all this, but you're gonna have to tell her eventually."

Ralph nodded and got out of the car with a sigh. He walked into the garage with Toby to find Paige talking with Cabe. She leapt to her feet as soon as she saw them.

"I'm fine, Mom," said Ralph before she had a chance to say anything.

"Go up to the loft, Ralph, I'll be right there," said Toby.

Paige moved to follow him, but Toby stopped her. "Don't worry," he tried to reassure her. "He's OK. He'll talk to you when he's ready." He crossed to his desk and picked up his medical bag.

"Why do you need your bag? Is he sick?" asked Paige, suddenly starting to panic. "Toby, tell me!" she pleaded.

"He's not sick," he reassured her. "Now just give me a few more minutes alone with him."

"Come on, kid," said Cabe, gently pulling Paige by the shoulders. "Let the Doc do his thing."

Toby nodded at Cabe and went up the stairs to find Ralph sitting on Walter's couch with his feet up. "It's kinda sore," he said as Toby walked over to him.

Toby sat on the edge of the couch and began to examine Ralph's side again. "I gotta say, pal, I'm surprised at you. What were you fighting about?" he asked.

Ralph didn't answer.

"A girl?" suggested Toby.

Ralph glared at him, but still said nothing.

"Why else would you be so embarrassed about telling your Mom?" offered Toby. "Is this about Sloan?"

"No," replied Ralph sheepishly.

"You got two girlfriends now? Good going, Ralphy-Boy!" exclaimed Toby with a grin.

"Sophie's not my girlfriend," insisted Ralph.

"Then why did some kid pick a fight with you over her?" began Toby, but then he realised something. "Wait a second… you started the fight, didn't you!" he said in surprise, not quite able to believe the markers he was reading from Ralph.

"It wasn't like that," Ralph tried to explain. "I... I think she's in trouble. Mikey Ballantine is a jerk, he was going to ruin everything. I had to stop him."

"Mikey Ballantine… let me think," began Toby. "About six inches taller than you, cheap sneakers, usually wears a green t-shirt, calls everyone 'dude' and has an Iron Man pencil case?"

"How did you know?" asked Ralph in surprise.

"How do you know the square root of ten million six hundred and fifty three thousand six hundred and ninety six?" asked Toby with a grin.

"Three thousand two hundred and sixty four," replied Ralph immediately.

"I was just about to say that," said Toby with a wink. "OK, why don't you start from the top?" he suggested. "And, you know, it'll be more efficient if I just call your mom up here now, save you repeating yourself later."

"She'll be mad at me," said Ralph with a sigh.

"No she won't," insisted Toby.

Ralph thought for a moment before eventually giving Toby a reluctant nod.

Toby smiled and crossed to Walter's desk. He clicked on the intercom and leaned forward slightly to speak into the microphone. "Paige, you can come up now," he said. "Oh, and bring some ice."

In less than a minute Paige was running up the stairs with a handful of ice cubes in a bowl. She stopped as soon as she saw Ralph's bruised ribs.

"Oh Ralph!" she exclaimed and she handed Toby the bowl so she could give her son a hug. "Is he OK?" she asked Toby with concern, but before the doc could answer she turned back to Ralph. "You could have told me about this, what happened? Does it hurt?"

"He's fine, it's just bruising," explained Toby as he wrapped some ice in a cloth and handed it to Paige. "Ralph thought you'd be mad at him," he continued. "I don't know all the details yet."

"Why would I be mad at you?" asked Paige as she applied the ice to the bruise.

"I got in a fight," Ralph told her as Toby pulled two chairs closer to the couch for Paige and himself to sit on.

"A fight!" exclaimed Paige.

"See, I told you she'd be mad," Ralph scowled at Toby.

"She's not mad, just concerned," replied Toby.

Paige took a deep breath. "Toby's right," she said, her voice much calmer now. "It's not like you, Ralph. Why were you fighting ?"

"There's this girl in my class," Ralph began. "Her name's Sophie. For the last few weeks she's been coming into school with marks on her face and arms. Bruises and burns. And she's been acting kinda strange too. I was worried she was in trouble at home so I tried to make friends with her, I wanted to help. She was always one of the kids who didn't talk to me, y'know, because they think I'm weird."

" Weird is an abstract concept," said Toby. "Genius, on the other hand, can be scientifically measured. Those kids know nothing."

"I know," agreed Ralph. "Anyway, I was starting to get somewhere with Sophie, I think she was beginning to trust me. I found out she likes cats and video games so I asked her to play Magic Animal House with me at recess. She's really good at it, but I couldn't get her to talk about her parents, or tell me anything about her home life. I tried everything you taught me, Toby, but she won't open up to me. I guess I'm not cut out to be a psychiatrist."

"You can be whatever you want to be," said Toby earnestly. "Sounds like you've been doing all the right things. It just takes a little longer with some people."

"Maybe, but I think I'll just stick with math and science," said Ralph, pointedly. "I wasn't going to give up with Sophie though. We're Scorpion, we help people and we don't give up, right?"

Paige smiled proudly at her son. "That's right," she said.

"So I suggested we play online after school and I've been video chatting with her too," continued Ralph. "She talks kinda quietly on Skype like she doesn't want anyone else at home to hear her, but I felt I was making progress this last week. Then Mikey found out about Magic Animal House and he started on Sophie today in the lunch hall, saying dumb things about me. I could see she was embarrassed about people knowing she was my friend and I couldn't risk her backing off, not when I'm so close."

"So you thought you'd shut Mikey up," noted Toby.

Ralph looked apologetically at Paige. "He was saying really mean things. I... I had seconds to do something before Sophie totally freaked out and then she might never have talked to me again," he explained. "So I lunged at him, just like Cabe showed me, but he dodged out of the way and pushed me backwards."

"Why didn't your teacher tell me you'd been in a fight?" asked Paige.

"It was right at the end of lunch, no one else really saw what happened," Ralph explained. "We need to help Sophie, Mom, she could be in real trouble," he added urgently. "I have an idea, but I might need Walter's help."

Ten minutes later Ralph had explained everything to Walter, with Cabe, Sylvester and Happy also listening in.

"You did a good thing there, kiddo," said Cabe proudly. "Standing up for a girl like that."

"Er, girls can stand up for themselves too, you know," Happy pointed out with a scowl.

"And I'm not sure we should be praising Ralph for fighting," noted Paige as Toby handed her a cup of coffee. She smiled at him appreciatively. She was relieved that Ralph wasn't in serious trouble, or badly hurt, but she was still reeling from the fact that her son had chosen to confide in one of his fellow geniuses instead of her. She hoped the caffeine would help take her mind off it.

"I won't do it again, Mom," insisted Ralph. He adjusted the ice which he was still clutching to his side. "Hurts too much."

"So why do you need my help?" asked Walter .

"Child abuse is a federal offence," said Cabe. "Just give me the kid's address and I'll have the place crawling with Feds in ten minutes."

"No, Cabe!" exclaimed Ralph. "What if I'm wrong? It's just a hunch. We need more evidence first."

"You can't just go barging into a child's home with weapons," said Sylvester, breaking into a light sweat at the thought of it. "You'll give her nightmares for the rest of her life."

"Sly's right," agreed Toby. "This could be a very delicate situation. A terrified child is not going to be much use if you need to press charges against, say, her father. We're making huge assumptions here, but if that is what's going on her emotional state is already fragile at best."

"I tried to hack into her laptop," began Ralph. "I figured it would be easy after we'd connected online , but there's a firewall and I wasn't sure what to do."

"I've seen you hack through firewalls in minutes," said Walter, frowning in puzzlement. "What's different about this one?"

"I didn't say I couldn't get through it," Ralph pointed out. "I said I didn't know what to do. It's a government firewall. I recognised it. I've seen Walter break through it plenty of times."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, shall I?" suggested Cabe with a knowing look at Walter , who simply shrugged defiantly.

"Why would an eleven year old girl have a government firewall on her laptop?" asked Happy .

"Perhaps one of her parents is a government employee?" suggested Sylvester.

"That's what I thought," said Ralph, putting his parcel of ice down on the desk. "I didn't want to get Scorpion into trouble."

"That was very thoughtful," smiled Paige. "Because it's usually me who has to do the explaining when you guys do that kind of thing," she added, with a knowing look at Walter.

"I figured Walter could get through without leaving a trace," continued Ralph.

"Of course," nodded Walter and he ran round to the other side of the desk and opened his laptop. Ralph picked up his tablet and followed Walter.

Paige rolled her eyes, but she knew there was little point in trying to stop them.

"Am I the only one a little uncomfortable with hacking into an eleven year old girl's computer?" asked Sylvester and Paige was about to agree with him when Ralph leapt to his feet in excitement.

"We're in!" he exclaimed. "Look for a personal journal," he suggested to Walter. "Or a blog."

"Check her browsing history too," said Toby. "There are forums where abused kids go to talk to each other, where they feel safe."

"If she keeps a journal it'll be in code," added Happy. "We had abused kids at the foster home. One of the few times I ever figured my life wasn't so bad after all," she added and Toby put his arm around her shoulders lovingly.

"Her father is a Government Agent, Jonathan Stamos," said Walter, reading from his computer screen. "Drug Enforcement."

Sylvester tapped a few keys on his keyboard. "Not any more he isn't," he said. "I'm into the DEA personnel records. Agent Stamos was killed in a road accident about four years ago. His wife was badly injured in the crash, wound up in a wheelchair."

"Could be there's another man in her life now?" suggested Happy.

"Evil stepfather?" offered Sylvester with a shudder.

"We're getting way ahead of ourselves, guys," said Paige. "There's no real evidence that Sophie is being abused."

"Maybe she's just accident prone?" shrugged Toby.

"But Mom!" protested Ralph.

"Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't check this out," replied Paige, much to her son's relief. "All I'm saying is we should keep an open mind."

"I'll go round there," offered Cabe.

"And grill the little girl until she confesses she's been lying to Ralph? Great idea!" said Toby, sarcastically. "Don't forget the thumb screws!"

"Somebody needs to pay her a visit before she gets hurt again," said Sylvester urgently.

"Paige and I will go with Ralph," said Toby. "She knows Ralph, she trusts him and Paige is a safe, motherly figure."

"Motherly?" queried Paige in disgust. "I didn't think I was that old!"

"You have a son, that makes you a mother," Happy pointed out and Paige scowled at her.

"You know what I mean," said Toby. "And I'm just a friendly, neighbourhood shrink. "

"If she lies to us about someone beating on her you'll know, won't you, Toby?" asked Ralph.

"In about three seconds," Toby assured him.

"Comms in," said Walter producing the familiar box of earpieces from his desk drawer and putting one of the tiny earpieces into his ear.

"This isn't a mission," Paige pointed out.

"No, but we can record everything you hear for evidence," replied Happy, handing her an earpiece before putting one in her own ear.

"I'm not sure how legal that is," said Sylvester with a concerned look on his face as he positioned his earpiece.

" Let me worry about that, if it comes to it," said Cabe, securing his own comm link.

"Let's go!" said Ralph, eagerly and he raced towards the door.

"He must really like this girl," Toby muttered under his breath as he fitted his earpiece before slinging his medical bag over his shoulder and following his young friend out of the garage.

Paige hesitated. She really didn't know what she was going to say to Sophie. This had all happened so fast that she'd barely had time to think about the implications.

"I'm texting you the address," said Walter and Paige's phone beeped out a text alert almost before he'd finished speaking.

"Thanks," she said and turned to leave.

"Um, Paige, er, wait," Walter called out, leaping out of his chair to follow her. He almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to stop her leaving.

Paige paused in the doorway. "Toby and Ralph are already in the car," she said as he caught up with her.

"I know, but I just… I, um, I…" began Walter, but he couldn't get his words out. He reached out to touch her arm, but snatched his hand back at the last second.

"What is it?" asked Paige.

"I just wondered if Timothy, er, Tim would be, um, this evening, that is, I was wondering if you and he were planning to…" Walter felt his face flush and he gave up trying to complete his sentence. He knew Paige would be angry with him for asking about Tim, but he just couldn't help himself.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Tim is out of town for a couple of days," snapped Paige. "He's helping a friend move house."

"Oh, right, I see," replied Walter. "I apologise, I was concerned that you two were fighting, or something."

"Why would we be fighting? Either way, still none of your business!" exclaimed Paige. "And you weren't concerned, you were hoping."

"Well, yes, no, er, perhaps, but if you and Tim were fighting it would most likely interfere with the smooth running of Scorpion and therefore it becomes my business," Walter tried to explain.

"Walter, I know you don't like the situation, but being with Tim makes me happy, so get used to it," Paige demanded. "And if we were fighting - which we're not - but if we were, Tim and I are both professional enough not to let our personal feelings interfere with our work. It would be really nice if you could learn to do the same. I'm going now, Toby and Ralph are waiting."

Walter watched as Paige stormed out of the garage. He sighed deeply, angry with himself for upsetting Paige. It seemed to be happening more and more lately and he didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't help but think it had to do with whatever it was that happened while he was in space, but he simply couldn't remember what had happened so he couldn't begin to figure out the connection.

"You gotta learn to keep your mouth shut, son."

Walter jumped and spun round at the sound of Cabe's voice. "I… I…" he stammered. Then he remembered they were all wearing comms so everyone had heard him make a fool of himself again.

"Paige's private life is really none of your business," Cabe warned.

"I am concerned for the welfare of my staff, that's all," retorted Walter and he marched back up to the loft. Cabe watched him go, shaking his head in despair.